Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a remote operation system and a technique relevant to the same.
Description of the Background Art
In the field of a remote operation system, there is a technique in which a remote operation screen is displayed on a display part of a remote operation apparatus for the purpose of a remote operation (remote control) of an apparatus (operation object apparatus) to be operated. Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Gazette No. 2008-071313 (Patent Document 1), for example, discloses a technique in which a remote operation screen including a display screen image simulating a display screen on a display of a remote operation object apparatus and a hardware key image simulating the appearance of a hardware key group of the remote operation object apparatus is displayed on a screen display part of a remote operation apparatus.
By using the technique of Patent Document 1, a remote operation of an image forming apparatus (remote operation object apparatus) can be performed while a remote operation screen including a touch panel image representing a touch panel of the image forming apparatus and a hardware key image representing a hardware key of the image forming apparatus is displayed on a display part of a remote operation apparatus.
In some cases, during the remote operation of the image forming apparatus by using the above-described remote operation screen, one or more operations other than the remote operation have to be performed while the remote operation of the image forming apparatus is performed. Specifically, there is a case where a web browsing operation is performed while the remote operation of the image forming apparatus is performed, or the like. In such a case, a web browsing screen image used for web browsing is displayed as an additional image in a partial area of the remote operation screen.
When such an additional image is synthesized into a given area of the remote operation screen and the screen is displayed, however, (though depending on the area into which the additional image is synthesized), there is a possibility that the hardware key image in the remote operation screen may be hidden behind the additional image and this makes it hard to perform the remote operation of the hardware key of the image forming apparatus.